apologies for dropping off the face of the earth for two and a half months

Chapter 29

Hyukjae’s POV

“What the heck?! Give it back! I called dibs first!” Changmin protested, reaching over me as he tried to pluck the card out of Kyuhyun’s hand. 

“That’s not how the game works you retard,” Kyuhyun countered. He didn't hesitate to flick Changmin in the face now that the giant man-baby was practically sprawled over my lap as he insisted that the red ace was rightfully his. 

My nostrils flared with pain when Changmin managed to elbow me in the nuts. I was about to crack him in the head when Kyuhyun’s foot came swinging out at him as he tried to shoo him away. 

They both let out cries when Kyuhyun’s big toes managed to wedge into Changmin’s right nostril, both recoiling back as if they’d just been bitten by a viper snake. 

I laughed at the entertaining turn that took, and from next to a cringing Kyuhyun, Donghae broke into hysterical fits only to have Kyuhyun push him off the pillow he had been sitting on. 

This was how our night ended up. It had been uneventful for the most part, until Changmin suggested the idea of a game. Unfortunately for him, I had nothing to satisfy his idea, except for a deck of cards I had wedged under the kitchen table to level it out. 

Now the kitchen table couldn't level a glass of water properly, and I was stuck here babysitting an overgrown baby and his feisty boyfriend. 

The only plus side to all of this was that Donghae was having fun. Oh, that and getting to watch Changmin’s nose be assaulted by Kyuhyun’s toe. Those two made for sure made for an interesting pair. 

When the two settled down, we resumed the game for a whole five minutes until Changmin opened his mouth for yet another complain to come tumbling out. 

“Ah geez, I think my leg’s cramping up,” Changmin said, using his teeth to bite down on his cards while he started massaging his left leg. “This is boring. How long do we have to keep playing?” he tried to ask with the cards still wedged in his mouth. 

“Might I care to remind you that this was your idea?” I pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the way he hiked up his pant leg to keep kneading his leg.

“Hey, I said we could do something fun. Playing goldfish like a bunch of old folks wasn't what I had in mind,” he defended, casting me a ‘this is all you fault’ look.

Before I could say anything, Kyuhyun interrupted. “It’s ‘go fish’, you oaf. Why the heck would it be goldfish?”

“Go fish? Since when?” Changmin looked up, letting the cards slip out of his mouth and into his hand where two landed in his palm while the others scattered into a mess in front of him. Most of the cards had obvious signs of saliva and I made a mental note to trash them later.

“Since Ghandi died and made me president,” Kyuhyun answered with an eye roll, causing Donghae to furrow his eyebrows at his friend’s weird choice of remark. Changmin also paused to give Kyuhyun a weird look before he replied confidently, “It’s goldfish and you know it.”

“Go fish,” Kyuhyun snapped. 

“Goldfish. It’s written so in the bible.”

“Don’t bring religion into this. And it’s go fish, you idiot!”

“You’re the one who brought up Ghandi! And it’s goldfish!”

With the way Kyuhyun was glaring at Changmin, I was preparing myself to jump out of the way in case of a fight. 

“It’s go fish,” Donghae piped up quietly, holding up his phone and pointing to the screen where he’d pulled up the answer from the internet. 

Kyuhyun smirked, and sat up a little straighter knowing he was right. Changmin looked doubtful and grabbed Donghae’s phone to check for himself. 

“Huh,” was all he said before shrugged it off. “Ok, moving on. Let’s do something else now, something that’s actually fun.”

“Let’s go to sleep,” I tried hopefully, but was ignored as Changmin exclaimed at the same time, “Truth or dare!”

“What is this? A preteen slumber party?” I asked, but Changmin only hushed me and looked at the other two for approval. Kyuhyun looked ready to walk out the apartment and Donghae looked more uncomfortable than when Changmin had been questioning him about me earlier. 

When no one reacted, Changmin took initiative of the situation. 

“Great! Who’s going first?” He asked, as he gathered up everyone’s cards and dumped them in a pile off to the side. 

Of course, no one volunteered, but Changmin had that sorted out in no time. 

“Truth or dare?” He asked, turning to me with an animated look. I let out a sigh deciding that I might as well play along.

“Truth.”

“Ah come on. Don’t be a wuss,” he said, and I pinched the bridge of my nose tiredly. 

“Fine. Dare.” 

“I dare you to go knock on the next door apartment and ask for some pickles.”

Donghae’s eyes widened. He and Kyuhyun shared a look before they turned to me to see whether I would do it or not. 

“Why the heck do you want me to do that?”

“I’m craving pickles,” he answered simply, leaning back on his hands comfortably as if he hadn't just demanded something ridiculous. 

“It’s the middle of the night. And there’s an old diabetic lady in that apartment.”

“So do the apartment across from here.”

I let out a heavy sigh asking myself why I had even let this devil into my apartment in the first place. But I started getting up anyways. It’s only a game. Plus, I wanted to look good in front of Donghae. How was waking up someone in the middle of the night for pickles a way to look good? I don’t know, but I guess that’s what love does to you, makes you whack in the brain. 

Which is exactly how I ended up staring down at the flower shop owner that lived in 1410D. 

“Um, hey neighbor,” I tried, but all I got was an blank stare that told me that he probably thought this was all some kind of messed up dream. 

“Uh, do you by any chance have some…. pickles that I can borrow?” I asked, internally cringing at the how awkward this would make our morning elevator encounters now. 

“Pit bulls? Yeah, sure, my parol officer mailed them to me yesterday,” he answered sleepily, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to indicate they were in his apartment.

Yup, definitely dreaming. 

“Ah, you know what? You keep them. I’ll just go,” I said, holding up my hand to stop him when he actually looked like he was intent on trying to get me his imaginary pit bulls.

I quickly turned around and marched back to my apartment where I could see three heads poking out of the crease. 

“Oh my god, that was better than I expected!” Changmin laughed, clapping my on the back approvingly. 

“Your turn,” I replied as soon as we closed the door. “I dare you to call up Misa and tell her you think I’m so much better than you and that you would do anything to be like me.” With that request, Changmin looked nothing short of horrified. 

“There’s no way I’m doing that,” he stated, folding his hands over his chest in a “no way jose” kind of way. 

You see, Changmin was big on keeping his reputation at work. Misa was his assistant and was known to be a huge gossiper in his company that spread gossip like wildfire.

I brushed past him and grabbed Donghae by the waist, propelling him back to the living room and inclining with my head for Kyuhyun to follow. 

“It’s either that or you show Kyuhyun your tattoo,” I said nonchalantly, but smirked when I heard Changmin let out a squeak from behind me. 

“You’ve got a tattoo?” Kyuhyun asked, turning back to Changmin, now curiously inspecting him for any signs of ink. 

“But that’s not as bad as the dare he gave you,” Donghae said quietly, looking up at me questioningly as I sat us down on the couch, keeping my arm around him and tossing the other one over the back of the couch. 

“Trust me, it’s an even trade,” I said, giving him a wink. He blushed bright pink and I smiled. A shout of protest had us looking over at the couple. Kyuhyun was trying to literally strip Changmin as he searched for a tattoo and Changmin was trying to restrain him by grabbing him arms. 

“Let me see, I wanna see,” Kyuhyun insisted, but Changmin got a decent hold on Kyuhyun’s wrists and held him in place. 

“He was joking. I haven't got one,” he tried, but Kyuhyun unexpectedly pouted, and got all doe eyed. 

“It can’t be that bad,” he insisted, and Changmin looked like he was breaking until I reminded him. “It’s that bad!”

He turned to glare at me before glancing back at Kyuhyun miserably. He looked like he was about to resist again, but his eyes suddenly lit up and he leaned into Kyuhyun’s ear and whispered something that me and Donghae were nosily straining to hear. 

Kyuhyun snorted and pushed Changmin away. “There’s no way I’m doing that. Forget it. I didn't want to see your stupid tattoo anyway,” he huffed, but as he angrily stomped over back to the living room, I caught a blush floating up his cheeks and I shook my head. Leave it to Changmin to turn the situation around for his benefit. The man had no shame. 

“I guess I’m calling Misa then,” he said as he came to stand by the tv, hesitantly picking up his cellphone, but not before casting Kyuhyun one last hopeful glance. 

In the end, Changmin called and reluctantly confessed his undying admiration for me, and we were back to square on again. 

Kyuhyun refused to go next so that meant it was Donghae’s turn. He looked worried, and I felt him lean into me the slightest bit to avoid Changmin’s wrath of ridiculous dares. But before Changmin could open his mouth, I beat him to it. 

“I’ll give you a dare,” I said to Donghae, watching him exhale a sigh of relief before staring up at me as he waited for his dare. 

“Um…Go down to the lobby and come back up?” Ok so maybe I wasn't the best for this game. 

“That’s not a real dare,” Changmin protested. I glared at him. 

“Ok. I dare you to er punch Changmin in the face,” I said, mostly to scare Changmin, but from beside me, Donghae gasped. “I-I can’t do that. It’ll hurt him!”

I grimaced and shook my head. “Sorry, I wasn’t being serious.”

“O-Oh.”

“So what’s his dare then?” Changmin asked from where he was sprawled out on the floor a few feet away from the couch Kyuhyun was curled up on. I sent Changmin an irritated look before glancing back down at Donghae. 

“Uh,” I tried to wrack my brain for something harmless, but I couldn't come up with anything. Then an idea came to mind and I felt my face heat up. 

“I dare you to kiss me,” I mumbled, and quickly bent down to kiss his lips before pulling back and turning to Changmin. 

“There. He did it. It’s Kyuhyun’s turn,” I said, trying to act casual. Thankfully Changmin shrugged and accepted the dare. 

I risked a glance at Donghae, and I saw him blushing, too, and he looked to be fighting off a smile. That made me smile, and I pulled him a little closer to me. I leaned down when the arguing couple across from us wasn't looking and kissed him again, this time on the cheek. 

There were no words for how red he got, and there were no words for how red I got when he suddenly turned his head and met my lips with his. 

We both sat there in a lovey dovey daze after that while Changmin and Kyuhyun still argued. 

“Ok, ok, I’ve got an easy one. Sing the alphabet backwards, and every time you get it wrong you have to kiss me.”

“No way!” Kyuhyun shouted. 

“What? It’s the same thing they did,” Changmin said, pointing to me and Donghae who squirmed under the attention. 

“I’m not kissing you,” Kyuhyun stated glaring off to the side as Changmin looked more and more desperate for a smooch. 

“Fine. Just do the alphabet part then,” Changmin said, holding up his hands in defense when Kyuhyun glanced over at him suspiciously. When Kyuhyun agreed, I heard Changmin mutter under his breath that he would get his kisses later anyway and I shook my head to get rid of that mental image. 

By the time Kyuhyun had sung the alphabet about fifteen times, Changmin was roaring out yawns like some starved lion. 

“I’ve been up for more than 20 hours. I feel like I’m about to pass out,” he confessed and I took that as my cue to unlatch myself from the comfortable position Donghae and I had settled into to go grab a couple of new toothbrushes for Changmin and Kyuhyun to use. 

I shooed them both off, but Kyuhyun insisted on using to spare bathroom so that he didn't have to be with Changmin. Of course Changmin whined and complained, but in the end, they left, leaving me and Donghae alone in the living room. I sighed at the mess that we’d created and started to clean up. Donghae quietly came over and began helping me pick up the cards. I smiled at him and he returned with his own shy smile. 

We ended up neatening out the blankets again, and picking up whatever scraps were laying around from before. When Donghae wasn’t looking, I dumped the deck of cards in the garbage. I also put Kyuhyun and Changmin’s clothes in the washer so they’d have their clothes to wear tomorrow. 

By that time, the two had finished their nightly routine. Changmin swayed on his feet as he walked out of the bathroom. He didn't hesitate to flop down at the end of the makeshift bed closest to him, and I’m pretty sure he wasn't even conscious of his surroundings anymore. 

Kyuhyun looked shy all of a sudden when he stopped to examine the sleep space. The blanket nest was only big enough for two people to sleep comfortably. The other two would have to take the couch. Sure, there were two beds available, but I was using this as an excuse to cuddle with Donghae.

 I guess Kyuhyun figured that out he had to sleep next to Changmin, and he wasn't too hot about the idea. He saw me watching him and he cleared his throat. 

“I’m hungry. Mind if I look in your fridge?” He asked, not really sounding like he meant it, but I nodded anyway and he padded off to cut time in the kitchen. 

I kept an eye on him a bit before I went into my room to join Donghae in the master bathroom. He had already started brushing his teeth and he looked embarrassed when I walked in. I grinned playfully.

“It’s cute the way you get toothpaste all over your face,” I teased, and he blushed, stopping to wipe the frothy foam around his mouth.

We got that done and headed back into the living room to find Kyuhyun perched at the island, picking at his nails and sipping a glass of water. 

“Are you heading to bed yet?” I asked him. He shook his head. 

“I’m not sleepy so I’m just gonna stay up for a bit,” he answered. Donghae looked unconvinced, but I could tell he himself was tired so I bid Kyuhyun goodnight and pulled Donghae over to the couch, switching off the living room lights as we passed them. 

Donghae blushed when he realized the sleeping arrangements, but I got down on the couch first and scooted back as far as I could to give him space. He nibbled on his lip, but eased down carefully next to me, trying his best to put some kind of space between us, but it was impossible. 

He was going to fall over the edge if he kept up like that so I tucked my arm around him and pulled him up against my chest. His back was to me, but I could feel his heartbeat pick up. The position caused me to feel a bit unsure if this was making him uncomfortable, but I felt him relax against me and I’m pretty sure I’m the one whose heart started picking up now. 

“Goodnight, Hyukie,” he whispered softly. I smiled at that and nuzzled my nose into his hair. 

“Good night, Hae.” 

The glow of the lights from in the kitchen were the only ones on in the apartment. After five minutes, Donghae was already asleep. Changmin had started snoring, and thankfully it wasn't too bothersome. I was on the verge of sleep, but I wasn’t fully asleep until some thirty minutes later when I heard the padding of feet as the lights switched off in the kitchen.

not the best chapter, but i needed to post something or you guys would've still been waiting for this two months later.